Library policy news from the American Library Association's Washington Office.

Net Neutrality at the end of 2017: What libraries need to know.

Published November 21, 2017 by
Ellen Satterwhite

Millions of internet users have weighed in — including hundreds of libraries and information professionals — to tell FCC Chairman Ajit Pai not to roll back 2015’s Net Neutrality Order. So what happens now? Flying in the face of this widespread and deep public support for strong net neutrality rules, the FCC has signaled it will gut these protections. Here’s what we expect in coming weeks and months:

FCC Vote: The FCC is expected to be voting at their December meeting, set for December 14 on the adoption of the “Restoring Internet Freedom” rule. The draft language for the vote is expected to be released later today. There likely will be a vote of 3 to 2 (along party lines) to reverse Title II reclassification of the internet. The final order is expected to fully reverse the FCC’s 2015 order.

Release of the Order: The full text of the adopted FCC order will almost certainly not be ready the day of the vote. In 2010, the text of the order (which was subsequently overturned by a federal court) was released two days after it was voted on, and in 2015, the full text was released 14 days after the vote.

Publication in the Federal Register: The order must then be published in the Federal Register and will not go into effect until at least 30 days after publication. This is an important date for proponents of strong net neutrality rules, as this is when appeals to the new order can begin.

Legal challenge: There are 60 days to petition for review or appeal the order in the federal court of appeals.

Another front of activity also could play out in Congress. At this point, there are no concrete proposals circulating, and discussion has come mostly from Republican members, with their Democratic colleagues opposed to legislating at this time. Discussions about legislation are likely to ramp up once the FCC’s vote happens.

Throughout, the ALA will continue to work with other supporters of strong net neutrality protections to ensure policymakers know how important a free and open internet is to libraries and the communities we serve. We have fought this fight many times over the past decade, and this will not be the final word on preserving the open and free internet we all need to ensure intellectual freedom and equitable access in the digital age. We will provide analysis of the draft order and additional options for ALA members to raise their voices in support of the Open Internet in the coming weeks.

Ellen Satterwhite

Ellen Satterwhite a Washington Office Policy Fellow and Vice President of the Glen Echo Group. She has years of experience at the intersection of technology and policy, including as a co-author of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan and as Consumer Policy Advisor to the Commission. Satterwhite earned a Master’s in Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

9 Comments

Nancy Burns

Please leave the internet so that everyone has an equal share and access because we do not need a hierarchy in every aspect of our lives. This is important especially in our area where there is no universal cable or internet available for students, parents, jobs and seniors. Outside our village there is nothing and they depend on the library for any access. Please do not make it harder….

[…] ALA Washington Office has released a resource for librarians concerned about recent actions on net neutrality. You can still take action to protest the move to roll back net neutrality, but there are some […]

[…] No action is needed at this time. Working with other supporters of net neutrality, the American Library Association (ALA) Washington Office will review the draft order and make recommendations on how to advocate in the next couple of weeks. For more information , see the District Dispatch post on what libraries need to know. […]

[…] morning the ALA District Dispatch published a guide for libraries – how to navigate changes in Net Neutrality and what libraries can […]

November 27, 2017

Debbie Geiger

Please leave the internet so that everyone has an equal share and access because we do not need a hierarchy in every aspect of our lives. This is important especially in our area where there is no universal cable or internet available for students, parents, jobs and seniors.

November 28, 2017

Karleen Boden

The NET NEUTRALITY is very important to us. Please support it. We are all EQUAL and IMPORTANT so don’t take it away from us in where there’s no universal cable or internet .

[…] a national level, the American Library Association (ALA) has consistently supported maintaining net neutrality, resisting both the current and 2015 moves to repeal. Following the December 14th decision there […]

January 3, 2018

Ketty Rodriguez

What is behind this move of eliminating net neutrality is the greed of the big businesses to grab everything for themselves without regard of the social or public good. The big interests still want to prune all sectors of society. We can not let this happen!!